When you get the chance to do over

The chance to right your mistakes is one of the top wishful thinkings that never loses its charm.

By right, the premise for Story of Kunning Palace (SoKP) already makes for a great start … By left though, SoKP falls through in the genre of reborn stories with poor camera angles and lighting, story execution and okay-ish actor / actress caliber.

Director Chu is infamous in the industry for his weird camera angles and inappropriate lighting position - so I will not delve deep into this. As a general viewer, I don’t have the professional knowledge to critique this constructively. The only thing I would say is it indeed cut down my viewing experience by a fair bit.

Onto the story. Jiang Xuening was the evil, alluring empress that was given the chance to redo life when she found she was back to her 18-year old self.

First things first, like any idol drama, I think evil can and should be contested. She was morally flexible and selfish in her first life, but to emphasise she was evil and thus, felt this deep regret to redeem her past actions to Yan Lin and Zhang Zhe was a bit lost on me. I felt that this may be due to the lost of translation from the original novel to drama adaptation.

This leads to the second, related point. The director and editors presented the story such that flashbacks of 1st life would play out right before the big event happened in 2nd life, and then we would watch how Xuening did differently after. On one hand, it made the story less draggy. On the other, it made me feel less engaged with Xuening’s motivation because I didn’t get enough context on why she felt a certain way with some characters in the scene. Like why she is so afraid of Xie Wei. Or why is she so grateful towards Fangyin. I mean they did mention why with the brief flashbacks, but the impact wasn’t deep enough for me to truly grasp the full picture of Xuening’s feelings. Not to mention, some of the flashbacks felt disjointed too.

Xie Wei should be an intriguing male lead - with his obvious backstory that closely mirror of Mei Chang Su story from Nirvana in Fire. Alas, while one may be able to copy the surface level stuff, the spirit or essence of classics is not as easily replicated. Maybe it’s the screenwriter. Maybe it’s the actor. To be fair, I think Zhang Ling He did good enough for his age. His Xie Wei just doesn’t have that charisma or charm for me, for now. Quite a lot of things were diluted to me in SoKP - I couldn’t feel that Xie Wei is was that smart to be able to fool the emperor, ministers, and rebels. There were more questions about how he survived his ordeal as a kid then and the resources he was able to amass at his disposal as an adult now to be able to do what he wanted. Similar to Xuening character, I felt this is also another lost in translation case. I shall stand corrected if I ever find the time to read the novel.

The funny thing was I got more intrigued by the side characters stories more than our main leads. One was Xue Hui’s arc, Xuening’s sister who was wise and truly just wanted to live her life peacefully but was misunderstood by Xuening for her indifference, in the 1st life. As Xuening chose differently this time, she came to better understand the person beneath the protective shell Xue Hui’s has built. Pity that Xue Hui didn’t even appear much on screen. Another one was Yan Lin’s, and I was rather satisfy with his arc. Fangyin’s arc was enjoyable too.

Overall, SoKP is a good enough reborn story that’s not for the nitpicky. It has a good enough storyline that sadly wasn’t translated as robustly on screen.

Read More

侠 (“Xia”) in essence - protecting what matters

Back from the Brink (BFTB) has a simple story plot - a handicapped dragon in search of his missing parts due to an ex betrayal.

This simplicity is its strength. Within 10 mins of the show, BFTB has told us what we need to know about the background context, Yan Hui’s (YH) personality, and how she is interlinked with Tian Yao (TY) in his quest. Straightforward with no filters. (Yes, those cute little loyal genies aren’t filters.) Their meet cute were hilarious and logical - a rare combination in many stories these days.

The best part of this light hearted series is Yan Hui’s character. I love how YH is kind, but isn’t a Mary Sue. She trusts people yet will not allow others manipulate her. She has a protective instinct towards those being bullied, but rightfully, affirms her priorities and will say No to requests that she doesn’t want to do. She is decisive and quick witted. What a healthy role model! I also particularly love how direct and expressive YH is. While a lot of credit is due to the screenwriter, I got to applaud the actress, Zhou Ye, who managed to strike that right balance for YH’s character. Her portrayal of YH adds a lot of points to made this character so likeable.

TY’s character is also done with care. Although he was betrayed by his ex in such a cruel way, and had to experience a lot of pain for losing his body parts, I love how he didn’t project his hurt to others. Sure, he was reserved and cautious with strangers, and was a handful to deal with. Beneath the reserved exterior, I can see his kindness, strength and wilfulness, befitting of the only Millennium Dragon in the story. His journey of redemption was slow, painful and can be frustrating at times to watch - but hey, isn’t the struggle and growth the whole point of a great character.

Main characters aside, I love the representation of each story arcs and the key characters in them as YH and TY journeyed to gather the latter’s missing parts. I love Xiange’s determination and stance in protecting what she believes in. I admire Lu Mu Sheng’s loyalty towards his wife, even if they did not expound on it. I respect Qing Qiu’s key characters’ belief and protection towards peace. While it is a stretch to understand Su Ying’s and her sister’s respective obsession (I suppose that’s why they are family), I can accept that there are characters like these and feel pain for them. And of course, how can one not love the little genies and children at dragon valley - how innocent and cute.

Most importantly of all, there were timely injects of humors and heartfelt moments throughout BFTB, making this xian xia my favorite of this year.

OST wise, it took me awhile to like them. The cute CGI style could be a make or break for some audience. And while I personally like the story plot is simple, it may be too light of a taste for those who are looking for brilliant plot twists or dramatic moments in stories.

At the core of it, BFTB makes us think harder about our prejudices (if any) towards people who are of different class, differentiating between love and obsession, the implications of choices and trade-offs (i.e. What it means sacrificing one life to save the world), how to embody the value, 侠 (“Xia”) chivalry, and what protecting truly means.

Read More

Avatar game comes online on screen

The premise of this series is rather simple - Lin Zheng Zheng goes into VR game to rescue her boyfriend, Tu Si Yi who was stuck due to a mishap. However, what makes her rescue mission less simple, and thus a lot of room for laughter, is how her boyfriend has lost his memory and truly believe the VR world is his home. Not only that, he thinks she is his enemy.

I rated this series as high as 7 mostly for its comedic element. However, don't think too critically for a series that doesn't take itself too seriously for the most part. Perhaps because it is a the story centered in a VR world, the plot isn't very consistent. But perhaps also because it is in a VR world, I am able to close one eye on the inconsistency of plot hole. There are also some fillers here and there, which I feel, mostly to callout the cliché troupe of rom-com genre. I start to see a pattern of C-drama series incorporating the "break the 4th wall" narrative lately - while it is something I can appreciate now, I am not sure how I would feel later down the road if it becomes another common plot device.

Chemistry wise, the main leads are alright. They also manage to find a comrade and complementary skillset in their supporting cast - which makes some part of the plot feels like an adventure wuxia series, given the backdrop of ancient "game" world.

Read More

Comedic break-the-4th-wall moments

These days, I somehow love dramas who could break the 4th wall and laugh at its own typical troupes and cliché-ness of romantic dramas. A drama about female scriptwriter being stuck in her own story in parallel historical female centric world? Sounds intriguing for sure, and plenty opportunities to poke a hole or two on the 4th wall.
The thing about breaking 4th wall though, where they were overly done or where they missed the mark, the drama would feel like a try-hard than witty. Not RoTR though – the moments were well executed, illogical and sometimes even crazy as they seem.

Chen Qian Qian, being stuck as a character who was supposed to die in episode 1 in her story, only focused on wanting to survive until “Happily Ever After” so she can go back to her real world. Han Shuo, a calculative and cunning heir with a terminal disease since young, only wanted to get the cure and mine ore from Chen Qian Qian so he can return gloriously to his city and succeed the title. Both have different motives, but both got more than what they asked for, even more so when they fall in love with each other.

Their servants also deserve a highlight – these two have the cutest dialogues, expressions and interactions. A lot of the comedic and perfect execution of break 4th wall moments come from these two and this drama would feel very different without them.

While it was a good ending, it feels like there were some loose ends, perhaps left untied intentionally. Hope season 2 would be here soon!

Read More

Story that doesn’t translate right on screen

I hate to be that person who whines about how dramas fail to live up to its original comics or books. But I really can’t let this review slide because See You in My 19th Life was, is my favorite Webtoon series of all times.

SYiM19L has such an interesting premise. We have Ban Jieum as the female lead who found herself in her trickiest predicament yet - being her own love rival. To be more exact, her 18th reincarnated self was the girl whom Mun Seoha, her love interest, cannot forget. Being someone who can remember all her past 19 lives, would she be able to use her century old wisdom to win Seoha’s heart again?

When I first excitedly tune to the series, I kept telling myself to enjoy my beloved Jieum’s and Seoha’s romance on screen with an open mind. After all, I get that comic storytelling and drama storytelling aren’t exactly alike.

2 episodes in though, I couldn’t help but found myself picking up the webtoon again and put on the comparison lens. After crawling through 5 episodes, my verdict is in, the drama wasn’t appealing enough - even if I were to see it as a separate story.

All in all, the drama version made certain simple plots that already worked well more complex than necessary. I also didn’t enjoy the chemistry between drama version of Jieum and Seoha.

>>>Spoilers alert from here on<<<

1 Changes which weaken the core of what I love about the couple

In the webtoon, Jieum as her 18th reincarnation met Seoha first in the library. Though they didn’t like each other at first, they eventually got to enjoying each other’s company reading books and chitchatting. It was here where Jieum mentioned how she felt more like a 12 year old being around Seoha - and it was an important moment for her considering she had already lived for a century.

Instead of this simplistic meeting in the library and them enjoying each other’s company overtime, their first meetup is changed to the pool, which some element of fate.

Maybe it was trying to add more context to convince us how their love story could transcend 2 lifetimes. Maybe it was trying to add more shared moments that they could use to create that typical dreamy romance vibe that on screen. The pool scene was indeed pretty, but this pretty moment somehow drowned Seoha and Jieum. Added the cliche-y touch, cut away the couple’s unique vibe I love from webtoon. It’s something I appreciate less these days with romance dramas.

Another example of change that didn’t work well for me - was Jieum’s confession to Seoha.

In the webtoon, the confession was simple and pure. Jieum realised she liked Seoha and thought the moment was right to confess. There was an internal monologue shown to us on how Seoha’s actions that day impacted Jieum. It became clear to her that her affection towards Seoha remains romantic in this lifetime as well and thought it was important to confess. So she did. Simple, decisive and clear - like how someone who had lived for 19th life would rightfully do.

In the drama, they made Jieum ran in the rain from her place to Seoha’s (okay she ran to the taxi, then to Seoha’s, in the rain), then babbled to Seoha that she wanted to confess on his birthday because it would made him had a good memory to go by (instead of linking it to Joo Won’s death anniversary). And then, the moment got to predictably get interrupted by a “fake” love rival for a needed tension. I got tired typing this scenario out.

This change diluted the confession.

There were many more scenes like these that dial up the cliche-y moments. But let me move on to my next point.

2. Drama Seoha vs Webtoon Seoha
In the short 5 episodes I watched, I eventually warmed up to Shin Hye Sun’s portrayal of Jieum even when I didn’t like it either, but I sadly can’t say the same for Bo Hyun Ahn’s Seoha.

One of the most fun things about SYiM19L webtoon version was Seoha’s and Jieum’s banters - in particular, Seoha’s reaction to Jieum’s confessions and general remarks. The drama Seoha is too reserved, which dull a lot of the humorous moments I had enjoyed back then when reading the webtoon. The webtoon Seoha wasn’t friendly either, but he had way more reactions to Jieum’s teasing.

Hye Sun’s and Hyun Ahn’s on screen chemistry was also only so so to me. Not enough for me to like them separately from the webtoon version.

3. Jieum’s mystery and the finale
For remaining part episodes, I ended up googled others’ reviews to catch up on the story plot at high level.

If I had disliked the aforementioned changes, I am definitely upset with this one - they made Jieum forget the people in this lifetime too if she wants to break her curse. Whose genius idea is this to add this unnecessary cliche plot? Some critiques already pointed out the loophole on this.

In the webtoon, she simply won’t remember them anymore when she reincarnated in her next life. And this made so much more sense. After all, Jieum’s love story with Seoha happened because she remembered her past 18 reincarnated self. If she needs to forget them in this lifetime, what’s their love story without it anymore?

>>>Spoilers ends<<<

This concludes my review on See You in My 19th Life. It failed to capture the key spirits that made the webtoon version popular and enjoyable. The quirky and sassy female lead, the equally lovable male lead, their humourous and heartwarming love journey as well as the occasional nuggets of wisdoms from someone who has lived for centuries on life - I wasn’t able to see them on screen. While I give the production team a benefit of doubt, it’s hard for me to rate this higher than it is.

There were plus points though. The cinematography is great. The actor and actress are great too, even if I don’t felt convinced by their on screen chemistry. Also if you haven’t read the original webtoon like I did, maybe you will be able to enjoy See You in My 19th Life much better than me, without the bias and all.

I will “see y’all” in my next review.

Read More

Meeting your match

Wonderland of Love (WoL) is a surprising enjoyable ride, following the love story of Li Ni and Cui Lin.

For the review, I will mainly use Cui Lin’s nickname, Ah Ying, when referring to her since this is what Li Ni likes to call her by.

Li Ni’s and Ah Ying’s meet cute began with a fight for food supply and reclaiming of the cities to save the “king” that was being held hostage at capital.

What was intriguing from the get go was the battle of wits between the two of them, who held different armies. Smart and capable as they were, we couldn’t tell who had the upper hand nor who to root for as they competed for the same resources and gain the upper hand.

Li Ni and Ah Ying quickly turned allies when they unwittingly figured they worked more effectively together. The interactions remained fun to follow as they maintained the playful friendly flirtatious rivalry between them. … until the dynamics started to change by episode 16-ish when it seemed like Li Ni became the stronger one, be it from moral code, family power, or affection shown to other.

For the record, I still like Ah Ying a lot. She is one of the cunning, decisive, and likeable female leads that’s hard to come by in an idol drama. The slightly disappointed part to me was the troupe-y plot devices used to create the necessary tension between female and male leads to move the story along.

There were instances I felt that she overused Li Ni’s affection for her and / or she got turned into a weaker party. Was her hidden weapons only used for Li Ni? Where’s the independent cunning female lead we were introduced to at the start? It wasn’t that Ah Ying had the obligations to return Li Ni’s affection the exact same way he was doting her biasedly (on some level) or troupes like obsessive SML cannot be used in stories. It would’ve been nice to see a little more layers in Ah Ying and her development that’s present on Li Ni’s side through their love journey …or maybe I fast forwarded too much to see that side of Ah Ying.

On the other hand though, I recognised that a lot of conflicts they had were realistic and consistent with their characters setup. Li Ni may be loyal, upright and capable - but he is also impulsive and idealistic. Cui Lin is indeed cunning, pragmatic and overbearing - but she is also caring to her loved ones, willing to make the necessary sacrifices for the bigger goal and is resourceful. I guess this made them perfect for each other.

The real pity is the one dimensional supporting characters and slightly draggy plots. With weaker supporting cast, WoL’s story plot were less engaging and felt cliche-ish at some parts. They could’ve totally cut the story to 24 - 26 episodes and it likely would’ve made no difference to the enjoyment of Li Ni’s and Ah Ying’s love story.

Acting wise, I like both Xu Kai’s and Jing Tian’s portrayal of the characters and their chemistry. Believable enough for me to invest in Shi Qi Lang’s and Ah Ying’s romance in WoL. Lovely enough for me to swoon for those romantic moments and ignore the cliche-ness way of showing them on screen.

All in all, WoL is the typical idol drama that has a strong start, which somewhat feel draggy troupey halfpoint, and finishes off with an okay-ish, predictable climax. It’s still an enjoyable drama when one has the right expectations for it.

With both capable leads who are complement to each other in terms of wits and great chemistry, WoL is overall a fun and enjoyable flirtatious idol romance story.

Read More